AMA: Rider Wins 1969 Honda CB750 Four

David Beall of Aliquippa, Pa., gave credit where credit is due. He said if it wasn’t for his girlfriend, Judy Musta, he wouldn’t have won the Vic World-restored 1969 Honda CB750 Four and the like-new, unrestored 1965 Honda Cub in the 2010 American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Motorcycle Hall of Fame bike raffle.

“The tickets were sent to me in the mail — five of them — and I took them to my girlfriend’s house, threw them down on the table, and they set there for a week or two,” Beall said. “My girlfriend finally filled them out and then we chucked them in the mail. I didn’t think I would win. I just chalked it up as a donation.”

Then, when Beall heard he did win, he couldn’t believe it.

“I thought it was a joke,” said Beall, a 19-year AMA member. “I thought my friends were playing a joke on me. I don’t picture myself winning something like that.”

Beall’s winning ticket was announced at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days on Saturday, July 10, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, which featured Husqvarna as Marque of the Year for 2010 and Malcolm Smith as grand marshal, is an annual fundraiser for the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio, which honors the men and women in the Hall of Fame.

“I’ve worked on a lot of those overhead cam Hondas in my day,” said Beall, who co-owns the Beall & Nairin bike shop 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. “We do mostly service and parts, custom work and restoration. It’s a ‘ma-and-pa’ type store. We used to be a Laverda dealer and an MZ dealer. So, we have our own little museum now. I’m going to put the Hondas in my shop and get some of my English bikes up to that standard and show them as well.”

But that doesn’t mean the Hondas won’t see the road from time to time.

“I think I will take the CB out and ride it,” Beall said. “But I want to keep it in a good environment so it will be here for a long time.”

As for the Cub?

“Judy thinks that would be a great bike for her to ride around,” Beall said. “That’s up in the air. Something newer might be better.”

Beall has been riding since 1969. His first bike was a 1976 Kawasaki S1, a three-cylinder two-stroke, which he still owns. The bike is now set up as a drag racer.

Two bikes that would look good sitting next to the S1 in Beall’s garage would be the 1973 Kawasaki Z1 and 2010 Kawasaki Z1000 — the motorcycles in the 2010-11 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame bike raffle.

For a chance to have your name announced as the winner of this modern muscle bike and its classic inspiration at the next AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days in 2011, visit MotorcycleMuseum.org/support/programs/index.asp.